


a little red in Wakanda

by yourgirlislovely



Category: Black Panther (2018), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Blood and Gore, Fairy Tale Elements, Gen, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, T'challa mention, bucky barnes cameo - Freeform, i don't even know what this is, winterprincess if you squint through a microscope, writing in the time of quarantine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-29
Updated: 2020-05-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:09:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24437203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yourgirlislovely/pseuds/yourgirlislovely
Summary: an explicit moral tale of the MCU kind
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Shuri
Comments: 8
Kudos: 6





	a little red in Wakanda

**Author's Note:**

  * For [wakandawinterprincess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wakandawinterprincess/gifts).



> So. This was something. I honestly could not tell you what came over me but something did. And now that I have spent the time writing and editing it, it's only fair that I share it. And hopefully it's not terrible? 
> 
> Or maybe it is. It's 2 in the morning. or maybe not.
> 
> Gifted to wakandawinterprincess for putting up with my shenanigans on so many levels as I wrote this.

* * *

She was much too stubborn, according to her mother.

T’challa had always been the more obedient one. Shuri never had the patience to just listen. In her opinion, listening never gave the right answer. 

But rules were rules, and they must be followed, especially if you were a princess. And so, the endless repetition of the same warnings:

  1. Monsters prey on solitude
  2. Stay put after twilight
  3. You must not take what is not yours



But Shuri was much too old, much too sensible now to even begrudgingly listen to such silliness, especially when none of it had been useful to her. 

So, when an impromptu desire to visit Nakia took over her, Shuri decided to do it without the queen-regent or the company of the Dora.

She was no longer a child, but royalty and the powerhouse behind Wakanda’s current infrastructure. Surely, that gave her some right to choose not to be bombarded with stern warnings and antiquated rules nor stuck with a bodyguard who would walk with her in agonizing silence. 

She looked at her wrist, the kimoyo beads reflecting the ceiling lights of her lab.

Nor did she want to be caught and reprimanded later for leaving without telling someone. 

So, with her beads stuffed into the drawer of her desk and a cloak around her, she snuck out of the palace.

An afternoon of sweets and conversation with Nakia, a break from the stress of her lab work. Just a moment to breathe without her every move tracked. That was all she wanted. 

It would be quick and it would be harmless. 

  
  


* * *

The bustling streets immediately outside the palace led to the quiet community of the mining tribe. In daytime, they would all be working at the excavation site; the perfect opportunity for her to pass through without notice. 

But after a few minutes of casually strolling through the main path, she fastened her pace and pulled in her cloak closer for comfort. 

The eerie silence unnerved her; rows of empty homes seemed endless as she passed by each one looking just the same as the one before it. The brightness of the sun gave life to the glass windows, the reflection formed into eyes that followed her every step.

Shuri rushed forward at the sound of a faint noise in sync with her each move right behind her. 

Her feet stopped abruptly, a tightness constricting her throat. She bent down, gasping for air. 

She had made it. A thick, dense fog stood as a barrier between the town and the forest; she could make out the faint outline of greens, browns and blacks.

Her body however refused to move forward into the obscure mass that looked ready to swallow her whole.

  
  


"Monsters prey on solitude." 

But monsters had teeth, right?

_Crunch._

A shriek escaped her, into the void of obscurity as she whisked her head around to see what was behind her.

...Nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

  
  


How foolish of her, giving into silly sayings. She was a woman of science, for Bast’s sake!

  
  
Monsters were born from bored minds with a knack for trickery.

Or from overbearing mothers who wished to control their practical daughters.

With this newfound assurance, her body followed suit— her head high, her shoulders back. The thick fog had opened way for her and she pushed into the depths of lush greenery that covered her vision. 

Her footsteps were quieter though.

Just in case.

* * *

  
The buzzing and chirping of the forest critters was a welcoming change. It was close to human, so that was good enough.

But it was so damn hard to see. 

The pathway was flattened for easier travels but every once in a while she found herself off track, tripping over exposed roots and creeping vines. 

This was the same forest that she had roamed as a child with baba and T'challa. She knew it to be small, a 20 minute walk from start to finish at the very most. 

But it had been more than that with no end in sight. 

Was nature double-crossing her now?

Had she even been going in the right direction? 

Or had the paths changed?

Was the sun setting already? How much time had passed?

  
  
  


"Stay put after twilight"

And just like that, other senseless speculation began to take shape in her head, much to her own chagrin.

There was only one path and whether she'd make it to the other side or was heading back home, she would disprove her own baseless paranoia. 

  
  
  


_THUD_.

  
  
  


A stream of curses escaped her, some birds scampering about.

She failed to notice the fallen trunk in front of her. 

Fucking Bast. 

Shuri spit out the dirt and dried leaves stuck to her tongue, wiping away the bitter and rotted taste of the soil from her mouth.

She slowly picked herself and dragged herself to sit on the rotting corpse that caused her fall. Patches of dirt and scrapes covered her arms but her right knee took the most damage. 

The skin had completely ripped off and the blood oozed a dark crimson.

  
  


Great. 

  
  
  


She needed something for the damage. At least, to stop the bleeding long enough to either return home or to seek Nakia’s aid.

  
  


The heart-shaped herb. Of course!

It provided extraordinary power to the one who held the black panther mantle, so it could provide some relief to her.

Right? 

  
  
  


"You must not take what is not yours."

  
  


She gulped. It was taboo for anyone other than the black panther to use this herb. 

But wasn't she second in line? A potential heir to the throne should something happen to her brother? 

The herb would be hers sooner or later. And this was just a flesh wound. 

A low rumble jolted her out of her thoughts as she jolted up, her eyes roaming in every direction to catch the source. It was blurry, but there was no mistaking the contrast of a pale, giant ..thing standing against the dark brown of a tree, not too far from where she sat. 

She rubbed her eyes and blinked. Her ears had deceived her before; she wouldn’t take that same chance with her sight.

Nothing. Again, nothing.

Her fingers gripped the bark tighter as she swallowed hard, her stomach twisting as the pain from her fall churned into fear.

Shuri slowly pulled herself up, the blood from her knee streaming down her leg, staining the bottom of her cloak with specks of red. 

The sooner she found that herb, the sooner she could escape. 

Whatever was with her in the depths of the Wakandan forest, she could escape. 

She, however, failed to notice the tiny bits of white that stuck to her hands from the bark. A match to the pale mass that she caught just minutes before.

Fur.

* * *

The herb, as she recalled, only grew in spaces bereft of light. Sunshine would shrivel it's leaves and drain it's power. 

Which meant entering uncharted parts of the forest, places that no one dared to go. 

An already hazy journey, Shuri made her way into the dark, trekking on uneven ground blanketed with velvet-like grass. Her only hope was to seek any sign of a purple glow, a feature of the herb and the only source of light she could expect.

The sky was lost after some time as the tree tops obscured any sign of a world above it. 

Shuri quickly adjusted to this shadow world as she latched on from one trunk to the next, wincing at the thorns and vines in between that scraped her skin with the lightest touch. She staggered on, careful to soften the press of her foot against fragile leaves. 

  
  


She was being followed, that much she knew. Her ears caught a distant rustle now and then, each one felt a little closer than the before.

As a child, she was told that panthers lived in Wakanda deep in the forests and mountainous terrains. A superstition that she had always viewed with skepticism, as she did with many things. 

They served as a guardian to any true Wakandan who wished for safe passage in the wilderness. 

Perhaps even to the ones who did not follow even the simplest of rules. At least, that was her hope now.

* * *

The sound of ragged breaths was too close. With darkness on each side and no sign of any light from the herb, Shuri couldn't tell where it was coming from. 

She stilled, covering her nose and mouth. 

Waiting.

  
  
  
  


A sharp claw enclosed around her throat, her body thrown against a trunk. The crunch of sharp teeth breaking into her flesh and bone quickly followed, her scream choked out by the vice like grip.

With the pressure of the beast crushed against her, she shakingly reached down with her other hand for the sharp tip of a loose branch or bark.

Finding one, she swung her weapon at it, the squelch of sharp wood piercing a vulnerable spot.

She dropped to the ground; the creature backed away, letting out a painful ear-piercing howl. 

She could make out the whining sounds of a hurt animal growing out further and further. It had retreated for now.

Whatever it was, it had a taste for her now.

She needed the herb if she wanted to survive another hunt.

  
  


* * *

It had done a number on her. Chunk of flesh hung loosely from where her shoulder was. She tore the bottom of her cloak to contain the damage.

She had vomited at the sight of her exposed flesh, the rotting smell of it mixed with the animal’s own musk burned her nostrils.

But there was no time to grieve or tend to her wounds. 

She could make out the faint light of purple just ahead. The herb could fix it, it could fix it all.

It wouldn’t be long now.

* * *

Her eyes were bleary, but she had made it. A bed of purple illuminated in a small meadow, just downhill from where she stood.

She smiled, her shaky legs barely holding her up. 

Just a few more steps.

  
  
  


Shuri's legs gave away as she tumbled down the rest of the path. 

Whatever pieces of her that were barely held by thread of skin soon gave way. She let out an agonizing cry as more blood gushed out, now over heart-shaped herbs. 

Her hand slowly reached out to a clean one, free of contamination. 

  
  


She let out a violent shriek, as a yank on her ankle pulled her, dragging her back. The beast had returned, it’s pale hand sharpened like a claw tearing at her heel. She pulled and thrashed against it’s hold, but she was weak.

Shuri lunged forward with her mouth opened, her only shot for survival. Her mouth burned at the metallic taste of blood and her own meat with the bitterness of the forest soil. 

  
  
  
  


She failed.

Nothing. Nothing could stop it. 

The pain, the beast, or death.

  
  
  
  


Letting out a faint cry, she collapsed, the back of her squishing against the puddle of blood and soft leaves. A numbness began to press against every inch of her body, paralyzing her.

  
  
  


Faint steps drew closer. 

  
  


Her breath hitched; narrow blue eyes looked back into her own. Patches of fur stuck on the claw like hand. Blackened bruises spread across his skeletal chest and dried blood surrounded a gash in the neck. But where there should have been a snout, was a disfigured nose retracting back closer to the face.

  
  
  


A bark-like laughter left him and the glint against his sharp fangs glared back. 

Tears poured as she laid there in her own carnage, the warnings of her mother ringing in vain. 

  
  


“Finally”, he growled , “a foolish one.”

  
  
  


As he hungrily feasted on the rest of her, her head tilted off to the side. Blackness spread from each corner of her vision, but not before she caught the brilliant red of her blood-soaked cloak.

How fitting.

  
  


Her dismissal of one superstition had made her the prey of a different one. 

  
  


Panthers didn’t roam Wakanda.

A lone white wolf did.

  
  
  
  



End file.
